"CSIS
is a government agency dedicated to protecting the national security
interests of Canada and safeguarding its citizens. The main objective of
the Service is to investigate and report on threats to the security of
Canada, an objective that it pursues while respecting the law and
protecting human rights. CSIS is unique in its role as the Government of
Canada’s principal advisor on national security."

"In
May 1996 a joint project was initiated by the RCMP
Criminal Analysis Branch and the CSIS Analysis and Production Branchto assess the extent of the
threat posed by the acquisition and control of Canadian companies by
members or associates of triads and with affiliations to the Chinese
Intelligence Services." This project resulted
in a draft report being written in June 1997 called Sidewinder:
Chinese Intelligence Services and Triads Financial Links in Canada.

In
summary Sidewinder stated:

"The
triads, the tycoons and the ChIS have learned the quick way to gain
influence is to provide finance to the main political parties. Most of the
companies identified in this research have contributed, sometimes several
tends of thousands of dollars, to the two traditional political parties,
that is, the Liberal and the Progressive-Conservative Parties.

The
Chinese leadership continues to gain much direct or indirect influence
over the Canadian economy and politics. Having bought significant real
estate holdings and established businesses in Canada, China has obtained
access to influential figures who are now or once active at various levels
of Canadian society. In many ways, China remains one of the greatest
ongoing threats to Canada's national security and Canadian industry."

Ann
Jane Gray in her article Jean
Chretien and the Sidewinder Report explains some of the
potential reasons this threat was not reacted to by the Government of
Canada and why some of the investigators involved were removed from their
positions and became Whistleblowers
instead
of receiving the thanks of a grateful government.

Given
the current level of information on Chinese spies, not only in Canada but Australia,
New Zealand and The United States, the information coming from Adscam and the Oil-For-Food
scandal, as well as the 1999 U.S. government
Cox
Report(CNN:
Cox Report), it would seem the
Government of Canada has not learned the lessons of Caesar's
wife, they are not above reproach.

Taking
a look at the
SIRC leadership and members (1984-2004), as they are the external oversight
group for the CSIS, some interesting things come to attention.

Paule Gauthier was the corporate secretary
and legal consul for Power Communications, a subsidiary of the
Power
Corporation from 1970-1995. She was rumored to have dated
Brian Mulroney while they were both at law school
at Laval Universite in Quebec City.

Hon. James Andrews
Grant, P.C.,
Q.C. (5 years)

According
to Kevin Michael
Grace,
" One SIRC member, James
Andrews Grant, has a serious unreported conflict of interest. His
biography on the SIRC Web site identifies him as a directors
of CIBC and
chairman of the executive committee of the law firm Stikeman Elliotwhich has a long-standing relationship with
CIBC's largest shareholder, Li
Ka-Shing,." who
was also named in the Sidewinder
Report.Li
Ka Shingthe
richest person of Chinese descent in the world controls Hutchison
Whampoa Limited.

Donald
Gustein
in his book The new landlords: Asian investment in Canadian
real estate
describes Stikeman Elliot as “Li Ka Shing’s law firm.”A few of the former senior partners now work directly with Li
and are on the board of directors for Li’s Husky Oil (Husky
Energy),
Concord
Pacific and the CIBC.
A
Sandra Rubin article in the Financial Post
Rumble
on Bay Street about the most powerful Canadian corporate law
firms says: Stikeman’s acts for the Cheung Kong Group, controlled by the Li family
in Hong Kong. Over the past five years the firm’s Sydney office has
overseen close to $6 billion in mergers and acquisitions in Australia on
Cheung Kong’s behalf and has acted for them in infrastructure transactions
throughout Asia and in the United Kingdom. Stikeman
Elliot is also one of the major law firms dealing with Canadian immigration
cases. He also sits on the Board of Directors
Shire
Pharmaceuticals and CAE
Inc.

Trudeau
Foundation,
two
Canadian
Foundations.Bob
Rae in a statement to the Ontario
Parliament, stated he had meetings with K.S.Li (Li Ka-Shing) and James
Ting
(President and CEO of International Semi-Tech Microelectronics), both of
which were listed in the Sidewinder Report.

Bob
Rae as former Ontario Premier, appointed Maurice
Strong as head of Ontario
Hydro in 1992. Rae “remembered him as a
friend of his father’s and called him "Uncle
Moe". In 1993 Power Corp, Ontario Hydro and
Hydro Quebec formed the Hong Kong-based
Asia
Group Inc. “set up with an initial investment of $100 million, shared
equally by the three companies.” to invest in thermal power projects in
China.

His brother
John
Rae, a director and former executive at
Power
Corp., was president and a director of the
Paribas Bank of Canada, part of BNP
Paribas Bank
the bank
at the center of the Oil-For-Food
scandal. John Rae was also a leading
strategist for PM Chretien.

In
the Annual report 1999-2000 there is A. Areas of Special Interest for 1999-2000Project Sidewinder Report
#125 BACKGROUND
TO THE COMMITTEE’S REVIEW which ends with
Appendix C: Recommendations and Major Findings -Project Sidewinder. “The
Committee found no evidence of political interference as alleged. None of
the documents or records reviewed, interviews conducted or representations
received evidenced such interference, actual or anticipated. Project
Sidewinder was not terminated; it was delayed when its product was found to
be inadequate.”

With all of these connections,
even Caesar's wife would be questioned for coming up with a conclusion like
the SIRC Committee did in their review of the Sidewinder Report.

MONTREAL - The former head
of Canada's spy-agency watchdog (SIRC),
who received prestigious appointments from different levels of government
has been arrested abroad on fraud charges. Arthur Porter has been detained
by Panamanian authorities, along with his wife Pamela, several months after
Quebec police announced they wanted to charge him in connection with the
province's ongoing corruption scandals. (CP) Arthur PorterCorporate
scandals

OTTAWA - A civil liberties group is objecting to Canada's spy watchdog (SIRC)
assigning Yves Fortier
to investigate alleged spying on environmental activists, citing a conflict
due to his former petroleum industry ties.(CBC)

OTTAWA - Pierre Blais, who was chief justice of the
Federal Court of Appeal, replaces veteran politician Deborah Grey, the
former Reform Party and Conservative MP who had served as interim chair of
the
SIRC and is stepping down.Marie-Lucie Morin, the former national security adviser in the Privy Council
Office, is joining the SIRC.(Globe & Mail)